MUSLIM INVENTIONS

Al- Jazari

Ismail Al Jazari (1136-1206), was a Muslim scholar, inventor, and a genius mechanical engineer, as well as mathematician, and astronomer, he lived in the Muslims shiny age, also he has wrote the (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).

Al-Jazari

Little is known about Al-Jazari, and most of that comes from the introduction to his Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices. He was named after the area in which he was born, Al-Jazira—the traditional Arabic name for what was northern Mesopotamia and what is now northwestern Iraq and northeastern Syria, between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Like his father before him, he served as chief engineer at the Artuklu Palace, the residence of the Diyarbakır branch of the Turkish Artuqid dynasty which ruled across eastern Anatolia as vassals of the Zangid rulers of Mosul and later Ayyubid general Saladin.

His mechanisms:

1- Camshaft: he used it in his automata, water clocks, and water raising machines.2- Crankshaft: al Jazari has invented the crank-connecting rod mechanism; he used it in his

pumps.3- Escapement mechanism: a mechanism used to control the speed of rotating wheel.4- Segmental Gears .

Water Raising Machines:

He invented 5 types of water rising machines:

1- Saqiya Chain Pump : The first known use of a crankshaft in a chain pump was in one of al-Jazari's saqiya machines. The concept of minimizing intermittent working is also first implied in one of al-Jazari's saqiya chain pumps, which was for the purpose of maximizing the efficiency of the saqiya chain pump Al-Jazari also constructed a water-raising saqiya chain pump which was run by hydropower rather than manual labor, though the Chinese were also using hydropower for chain pumps prior to him. Saqiya machines like the ones he described have been supplying water in Damascus since the 13th century up until modern times, and were in everyday use throughout the medieval Islamic world.

2- Double-action suction pump with valves and reciprocating piston motion: he invented a twin-cylinder reciprocating piston suction pump. This pump is driven by a water wheel, which drives, through a system of gears, an oscillating slot-rod to which the rods of two pistons are attached. The pistons work in horizontally opposed cylinders, each provided with valve-operated suction and delivery pipes. The delivery pipes are joined above the centre of the machine to form a single outlet into the irrigation system. This water-raising machine had a direct significance for the development of modern engineering. This pump is remarkable for three reasons:a- First use of suction pipe.b- First use for double action method.c- Converting rotary motion into reciprocating motion.

He lift 13.6 m of water , by using delivery pipe.

3- Water Supply System.

Automata:

Al-Jazari built automated moving peacocks driven by hydropower. He also invented the earliest known automatic gates, which were driven by hydropower. He also created automatic doors as part of one of his elaborate water clocks, and designed and constructed a number of other automata, including automatic machines, home appliances, and musical automata powered by water. He also invented water wheels with cams on their axle used to operate automata. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the Italian Renaissance inventor Leonardo da Vinci may have been influenced by the classic automata of Al-Jazari.

Mark E. Rosheim summarizes the advances in robotics made by Arab engineers, especially Al-Jazari, as follows:

"Unlike the Greek designs, these Arab examples reveal an interest, not only in dramatic illusion, but in manipulating the environment for human comfort. Thus, the greatest contribution the Arabs made, besides preserving, disseminating and building on the work of the Greeks, was the concept of practical application. This was the key element that was missing in Greek robotic science."

"The Arabs, on the other hand, displayed an interest in creating human-like machines for practical purposes but lacked, like other preindustrial societies, any real impetus to pursue their robotic science.”

1- Drink Serving Waiter: The drink was stored in a tank with a reservoir from where the drink drips into a bucket and, after seven minutes, into a cup, after which the waitress appears out of an automatic door serving the drink.

2- Hand Washing Automation : Al-Jazari invented a hand washing automaton incorporating a flush mechanism now used in modern flush toilets. It features a female humanoid automaton standing by a basin filled with water. When the user pulls the lever, the water drains and the female automaton refills the basin.

3- Peacock fountain with automated servants: Al-Jazari's "peacock fountain" was a more sophisticated hand washing device featuring humanoid automata as servants which offer soap and towels. Mark E. Rosheim describes it as follows:"Pulling a plug on the peacock's tail releases water out of the beak; as the dirty water from the basin fills the hollow base a float rises and actuates a linkage which makes a servant figure appear from behind a door under the peacock and offer soap. When more water is used, a second float at a higher level trips and causes the appearance of a second servant figure — with a towel!".

Clocks:

1- Candle Clocks: Al-Jazari's candle clock also included a dial to display the time and, for the first time, employed a bayonet fitting, a fastening mechanism still used in modern times.

2- Elephent clock: The elephant clock was described by Al-Jazari in 1206 is notable for several innovations. It was the first clock in which an automaton reacted after certain intervals of time (in this case, a humanoid robot striking the cymbal and a mechanical robotic bird chirping) and the first water clock to accurately record the passage of the temporal hours to match the uneven length of days throughout the year.

3- Programmable castle clock : Al-Jazari's largest astronomical clock was the "castle clock", which is considered to be the first programmable analog computer.[8] It

was a complex device that was about 11 feet (3.4 m) high, and had multiple functions besides timekeeping. It included a display of the zodiac and the solar and lunar orbits, and an innovative feature of the device was a pointer in the shape of the crescent moon which travelled across the top of a gateway, moved by a hidden cart, and caused automatic doors to open, each revealing a mannequin, every hour. Another innovative feature was the variable ability to re-program the length of day and night everyday in order to account for the changing lengths of day and night throughout the year. Yet another innovative feature of the device was five robotic musicians who automatically play music when moved by levers operated by a hidden camshaft attached to a water wheel. Other components of the castle clock included a main reservoir with a float, a float chamber and flow regulator, plate and valve trough, two pulleys, crescent disc displaying the zodiac, and two falcon automata dropping balls into vases.

Figure 1: Al Jazari Elephent Clock.

Figure 2: Al-Jazari Water Pump Water-raising Suction piston-pump designed by Al-Jazari.

Figure 3: Water Pump.

Figure 4: Candle Clock.

Resources:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Jazarihttp://muslimheritage.com